- Authentication Security: Prevents unauthorized access by verifying if a phone number is still linked to the original user before sending verification codes or account recovery messages.
- Customer Communication: Ensures messages reach the intended recipient, reducing failed deliveries and privacy risks.
- Regulatory Compliance: Helps businesses comply with data protection laws by avoiding contact with reassigned numbers.
- Subscription and Billing Management: Confirms that a phone number remains associated with a customer before processing renewals or service changes.
Number Recycling
API Description
The “Number Recycling” API allows businesses to verify whether a phone number has changed ownership since a given date. This is essential for security-sensitive applications like authentication and customer communication, where ensuring that a phone number still belongs to the intended user is critical.
The API works by:
- Accepting a phone number and a reference date as input.
- Checking whether the number has been reassigned since that date.
- Returning a response indicating whether the number is still associated with the original user.
This helps businesses prevent fraud, ensure secure authentication, and maintain accurate customer records.
Use Cases
Benefits
- Enhanced Security: Reduces fraud risks by verifying ownership before authentication or recovery processes.
- Improved Communication: Minimizes misdirected messages and failed deliveries.
- Cost Efficiency: Avoids unnecessary messaging costs and supports issues related to outdated numbers.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensures businesses follow privacy and data protection regulations.
API Portfolio: Authentication and Fraud Prevention
SubProject Wiki: Know Your Customer
(incl. how to meet the team)
API Wiki: Number Recycling
API Repository: Number Recycling
API Repository Status: Sandbox
API Status: In progress
API Version(s) and Release Date(s):
- v0.1.1 (06.05.2025), Spring25 meta-release
API availability: Information which APIs are available in which country and network, and how to get access can be found on the GSMA public launch status page.